Bangladesh to place Tk 3 tr Delta Plan in IMF-WB meeting

World Bank-IMF meeting starts today

Zarif Mahmud : In the last three years (2020-2023), the economic loss of the world, including Bangladesh, has reached $370 billion.This huge loss has been caused by the continuous shock of global crisis including Covid-19, Russia-Ukraine war, recession.
As a result, the pace of global growth has become quite weak. In this, the current growth is below the average of 3.8 percent. At the same time, the wind of inflation is going on. Even if some countries can bring it down, inflation will be out of control in many countries by 2025.
The annual meeting of the IMF-World Bank, the biggest event of the economic block, begins today in Morocco to find a way to control the current economic crisis and inflation. Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors of 190 countries including Bangladesh will attend there.
According to sources, Bangladesh will present ‘Delta Plan-2100’ at the IMF-World Bank meeting this year. Due to the interest of the World Bank, the Minister of State for Planning is making all preparations to present it. Through this plan, investment of about Tk 3 lakh crore will be invited from the donor organizations.
When asked about this, State Minister for Planning Shamsul Alam said that a lot of foreign investment is needed to implement the Delta Plan. The World Bank will be attracted by presenting its presentation and capabilities at World Bank meetings. And if the World Bank comes forward, other agencies will be more attracted. As the World Bank is interested, the organization asked to present it at their meeting. The company wants to know more about the Delta Plan.
According to related sources, this meeting held in Morocco during October 9 to 15. Inflation has been given top priority there. Because, in 2022, global inflation has reached the highest level in many decades. The high inflation experienced in the past two years may increase the risk of continued high inflation.
There are also fears that central banks could complicate the path to bringing inflation back to their targets. Apart from this, there will be discussions on what to do to face global challenges, creating jobs in developing countries, building digital infrastructure, and climate change.
Apart from this, there will also be discussions on tackling poverty alleviation by increasing growth, investing and financing low-income countries in the face of crisis. Especially where inflation is the number one priority. For this, country-by-country policy reforms, greaterinvestment in human development and stronger growth strategies will be determined
There are sharp differences in current growth dynamics, the IMF said. The US economy is recovering. The economy of other emerging countries including India is also improving. But the pace is still slow in most advanced economies. China’s economic activity is slower than expected.
Many countries are struggling with this. However, to deal with the global liquidity and reserve crisis, the IMF has prepared a loan of one lakh crore dollars. Of this, 96 countries have been given loans of $32 billion; Of which 56 are in low-income countries. Interest-free financing has been increased fivefold in these countries.
According to sources from the Ministry of Finance, a high-level delegation including Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal, State Minister for Planning Shamsul Alam, Bangladesh Bank Governor Abdur Rauf Talukdar is participating in the annual meeting of World Bank and IMF.
This time, Africa’s prosperous economy is being given more importance in the meeting. Ahead of the meeting, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said a prosperous 21st century global economy needs a prosperous Africa. Because developed countries have a lot of capital. They must be used now to accelerate the current anemic global growth.
Delta Plan: Delta Plan-2100 has been formulated as the key to the future development of Bangladesh. The first phase of this Centenary Master Plan will be implemented by 2030. At this time, the target of investment to achieve economic growth under 80 projects has been set at Tk 297,800 crores.
Delta ‘Knowledge Bank’ and ‘Digital Information Repository’ are in progress. And to ensure the financial aspects of the overall activities, the process of forming the Delta Fund has started.
The government sees the Centenary Delta Plan or ‘Delta Plan-2100’ as the key to the future development of the country, adopted on the model of the Netherlands in Europe. Plan-2100 has 6 long-term strategies such as flood, river erosion, river management, urban and rural water supply, waste management and flood control and drainage management.
Among the 80 projects in Phase I of the Delta Plan, 65 are physical infrastructure and 15 are related to institutional capacity, expertise and research. Out of this, Tk 2,798 crores will be spent on flood control related projects and Tk 48,261 crores will be spent on river management.
Apart from this, Tk 67,152 crores for water supply in cities and villages, Tk 68,879 crores for prevention of river erosion, Tk 5,986 crores for Chittagong hilly areas and Tk 16,314 crores for drought prone areas are being allocated for the project. The remaining Tk 88,410 crore is targeted to be invested in other projects.
According to sources, various donor organizations including World Bank, the Netherlands, ADB, JICA have expressed interest in foreign investment and assistance in this large investment.
Type of investment: To ensure funding for 80 projects in the implementation of the Delta Plan, an investment target of 2.5 percent of GDP by 2031 has been set in the first phase.
Under this, government investment has been fixed at 1.5 per cent of GDP, private investment at 0.5 per cent and maintenance expenditure at 0.5 per cent during the fiscal year 2024-25. In 2031 also the investment target has been fixed at the mentioned rate.